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The Little Owl is distributed over the whole of Continental Europe, with the exception of the 

 northern portion, which it seldom or never visits. Along the southern countries of the 

 Mediterranean basin it is replaced by a closely allied species, Athene meridionalis ; and the 

 eastern boundaries of the two birds have as yet not been satisfactorily defined. In England it 

 has several times occurred, but never in Scotland and Ireland. It has been said to have bred once 

 in Norfolk, as stated by Hunt ; but Mr. Stevenson only knew of two instances of its occurrence 

 in that county from his own personal observation ; and Mr. A. G. More passes over the above 

 record in silence, possibly through the want of a better verification of the circumstance. 



Mr. Stevenson has lately written us a note as follows : — 



" For the specimens recorded from Norfolk I must refer you to my ' Birds of Norfolk ; ' but 

 I may tell you that Baker, the birdstuffer at Cambridge, told me some time since that he had 

 stuffed a Little Owl for a gentleman some four years ago, which had been shot near Lynn. I do 

 not doubt him, but have never seen the specimen. Beware of a note in 'Land and Water' a 

 short time back, about a Little Owl shot near Yarmouth. The bird was killed from the rigging 

 of a vessel off the Dutch coast ; another was caught at the same time and brought alive to Yar- 

 mouth, where it escaped from its cage, and will no doubt turn up yet as a genuine British-killed 

 bird." Mr. F. Bond tells us he has a specimen shot near Sevenoaks, Kent, in May 1862. 



All over France it is common and resident, according to Degland and Gerbe. Bailly says : — 

 " The Little Owl is common in Savoy, and is sedentary. It is more abundant on the plains than 

 in the mountains, where, in some places, it is replaced by Tengmalm's Owl." In Belgium and 

 Luxembourg, as recorded by De Selys-Longchamps and De la Fontaine, as also in Holland, it is 

 abundant ; and in Germany, Dr. Borggreve says, it is resident everywhere, commoner in the west 

 than in the east. 



Kjserbolling observes : — " In Jutland and Fyen it is numerous in the towns and country- 

 churches, more seldom met with in the farm-houses and woods; it is both a partial migrant 

 and resident." Mr. Wolley's collection contained eggs taken in a church-steeple at Tetsmark, 

 Jutland, by Herr J. C. H. Fischer, on the 14th of May, 1858. It does not seem to have ever 

 been killed in Norway ; and Nilsson says it has " only once occurred in Sweden, one having been 

 captured in Lomma church, near the coast of the Sound, having probably straggled over from 

 Denmark." In Finland it does not seem to have yet been obtained. 



In Styria, Seidensacher writes, it "nests with us, but is rare. In April 1862, I found a pair 

 breeding in a hollow oak near the village of Arndorf, and procured the two eggs. The female 

 was caught on the nest." 



Count Salvadori says it is the most common species of Owl found in Italy where it remains 

 all the year round; and, according to Professor Doderlein, it is resident in Sicily throughout 

 the year, and is very abundant. In November a partial migration takes place, those which had 

 inhabited the higher grounds then descending into the warmer regions. 



Major Irby writes from Gibraltar: — "Resident and breeding. Observed on the Bock of 

 Gibraltar." 



Mr. Saunders sends us the following note : — 



" Common and resident throughout Spain, though I never saw a specimen of Athene 

 meridionalis even in Andalucia. I may observe that the females are generally more russet on 



